Transformers is a nostalgia brand for many people (such as nearly everyone on this forum), but that isn't a guarantee of large numbers of sales. To put things in perspetive, evne Furman's run (which gets the most attention from fans) doesn't stay in the five digits. That's awful numbers there...

You should always listen to the fans to see what they like, and do your best to please them, but not at the cost of actually having a consumer base. If what the 'hard-core' fans want provably drives your product to the ground, it's well past time to stop listening to them.

I'd wager Furman actually tried to do something different. But when it turns out the fans don't like seeing Robots In Disguise actually being, well, Robots In DisGuise, he tried to salvage his readerbase with Stormbringer. by then, it was already too late